DOCTORS last night raised their concerns that the downgrading of maternity services in North Wales hospitals could leave babies and their mothers at risk.

The British Medical Association in Clwyd North division released a hard-hitting briefing paper which claimed the region’s health board was conducting an overhaul of services which could unfairly impact on disadvantaged patients.

Reforms by the Betsi Cadwaladr health board could lead to ‘a serious risk of increased mortality, morbidity and huge disruption to the most deprived people in North Wales’, it said.

The priority should be the ‘protection of acute and emergency services across all three District General Hospitals in North Wales’, the paper added, stating: “In a tight financial environment, we have seen a loss of front line staff through vacancy controls and budget cuts, whilst the public are being told there are problems with staff recruitment.”

It claimed the health board was conducting reviews ‘with evidence that is not always readily available’.

It continues: “The maternity review excludes discussion of option cost or assessments of patient impact; the woman and her family do not seem to be at the centre of service provision.”

In maternity, a significant number of women required immediate delivery by Caesarean section from an entirely ‘low risk’ situation, it said.

“This could increase the perinatal mortality rate in North Wales by 25% if the emergency obstetric service was not co-located. At least 85% of women require specialist services.

“That would mean 2,000 women would deliver and/or be transferred to another hospital if either Glan Clwyd or Wrexham maternity units were ‘downgraded’.

“With the three DGHs (downgraded hospitals) being 35 miles apart, closure of services at any one of them threatens to worsen deprivation.”

The doctors’ organisation also raised concerns about the indirect effects of changes.

“Tying up ambulances transporting large numbers of maternity case, babies or children will have knock on effects for other emergencies requiring immediate attention.”

It added: “Deprived families not only do not engage in services, but have difficulty accessing services because many do not have transport themselves.”

A statement from the Betsi Cadwaladr board last night said: “As part of the maternity and child health review, evidence has been gathered from a wide range of sources including a literature review by Public Health Wales, the relevant Royal Colleges, midwives, doctors, GPs, nurses, other staff, voluntary groups, partner organisations and patients. This was published in July 2011.

“This included a detailed look at the impact of deprivation and an assessment of current services has been completed.

“It has concluded that the way services are planned and delivered will need to change in order to improve outcomes for mothers and babies across North Wales. Further work remains to develop proposals to address the issues identified as part of the review process.

“As the statistics provided by the BMA are not referenced, it is difficult to ascertain their validity and the claims based upon them are not supported by evidence.”

An independent group of clinicians will review proposals submitted to modernise health services, health minister Lesley Griffiths will announce today.

Mrs Griffiths said the new National Clinical Forum would give independent advice to health boards on their plans to ensure that they stood up to clinical best practice and delivered the highest quality services.